Facing Consequences
by Mustardlover16
Summary: Booth made a little mistake and Bones is NOT happy. He has to face the consequences. Good thing he knows how to make a quick recovery. Slight language.


It had been a long day at work. There had been this whole gun stand off. Three guys. Not that he told Bones. He tried not to worry her if he didn't have to. He just called her, on his way to the scene, told her something had come up and he'd be late. He said he was sorry. And he was-but not for being late. He was sorry for lying. _Semantics. _

It was pitch black by the time he was finally driving home. Bones would probably be asleep. Christine deffinitely would be. _Damn_. This was the third night in a row he was too late to tuck her in. The case he had just been working on hadn't lent itself to Bones accompanying him, either, so it had been mostly phone call conversations and muttered apologies when he crawled into bed late between them. But she understood, right? That was one of the things about Brennan. She was understanding. That's what most people didn't really get about her. They don't see how someone as... calculating as Brennan could be empathetic.

He pulled into the driveway to find most of the lights in the house dimmed. The kitchen light was on high beam. That meant Christine was asleep, but Bones had waited up. Booth quitely let himself in the front door with his set of keys and snuck over to the kitchen. _Score._ Bones's home made veggie pizza. 30 seconds in the microwave and about half that to scarf down a slice. No sign of Brennan... Odd. She would have heard him coming in and rummaging around in the kitchen.

Momentary panic. When he didn't know where Bones was he got all agitated and anxious. Quiet sprint up the stairs, jump every three stairs to save time. He kept his footsteps light, just in case. It was probably nothing, and waking Christine wouldn't help anything if Brennan was simply in the shower or something. Besides, if something was wrong, stealth was all the better. But nothing was wrong. He was just being overprotective, just like Brennan always accused. Deep breath. _Calm down, Seeley. _Another deep breath. _Forget that._ Mad dash to the bedroom.

Heart leap, Bones was sprawled across the bed on her back. _Stop it, Seeley. She's breathing normally. No blood. She's fine, see? Now you can breathe._ He studied her. Still in her clothes. Book in her hand, finger holding her place. She'd been waiting for a while. _Duh, Booth. Of course she is. You're not the only one who's been working long hours. Right. _Brennan hadn't come home the night before. Stayed at the lab the whole night fine tuning the details for the case for Caroline to review. Probably hadn't slept a wink in a full 32 hours. Or more. Likely more.

Quickly, Seeley slipped off his jacket, droped it on the apolstered chair in the corner. The tie and slacks quickly were added to the pile. Shirt went in the laudry bin on the other side of the room. Too lazy to walk over there. Throw. _Swish. And the crowd goes wild!_ Over to the dresser for a T-Shirt. No use bothering with sweat pants.

After a quick shower, tooth swab and mouth wash gargle he set about the task of trying to get into bed without bothering Bones. First step, slowly, ever so slowly remove the book from her hand, mark the page with a pencil on the bedside table. No use facing that firestorm in the morning if he could avoid it. _Bullets wizzing by your head? Scary. Bones angry? Give me bullets anyday. _Booth moved back over to his side of the bed. He considered just trying to scootch her over himself. Then he remembered trying that on a previous occasion... Even in sleep she was stubborn. Especially in sleep. Best tactic was charming her to move over. A smile. Charm was his middle name.

"Hey, Bones." He whispered softly.

"Mmm." Came her less than enthusiastic reply.

"Brennan, mind scooting over a bit, you're taking up the whole bed, babe." Kiss on the cheek. It was unfortunate he had to disturb her. Sleep looked good on her. Her red-brown hair splayed out, head to the side, body totally relaxed. Totally relaxed was something that was rare in the Booth-Brennan household. Which made ruining it a total ass-bite move.

"Brennan..." He begged quietly. He _really _didn't want to sleep on the couch.

"Booth?" She was groggy, but not grumpy. _Thank God. _

"Hey," he was humored by her sleep slurred voice, "could you slide over a tad?"

"No." She turned her head away from Booth.

"Whoa, hey, what?" Desperation was evident in the rising pitch of his voice. The smallest of smiles played on her lips. _Oh-ho-oh. Gotcha. Two can play at that one, babe. _

"Fine, have it your way. You win." He said aloud. "I'll make do." He stetched out perpendicularly to her, across her abdomen. She spluttered, fully awake now.

"Booth..." She groaned hoarsely, "You're crushing me."

"Right, sorry, _sweetie._" He teased. He pushed off of her, but still she refused to budge. Army tactics-can't go over, try going under. He burrowed under her torso cheekily, stomach pressed against the matress. No movement from above. Okay. He could handle this. The warm female body of his wife on top of his own. Brennan wasn't too heavy, he could manage. Suddenly, some of the weight lifted of his. _Score one for the big guys! _Bones's head shot up off his shoulder and then reeled back, the product of a violent sneeze. The back of her skull came down onto the side of his own head. Booth bellowed something undeciferable in pain. Brennan tumbled off him.

"God, Brennan, when they call you hard headed, they aren't exagerating as much as you'd like to think." He grunted, rolling to an upright position. The room spun slightly. _Whoa. Trippy. _

"Ugh, that hurt." Her first verb of the night.

"Yeah, I know. I was there." He felt her hand shove his shoulder.

"Shut up, Booth." Not a very happy sounding tone. _All units be advised, we just got a hit on the _Something Else is Going On Here _scanner. Unit 22705, move in._

"Uh, you okay there, Bones?"

"Fine." She did not turn to answer. _Not a good sign._

"Right, so nothing's the matter?"

"Nope.

"Sure, yeah, alright. But if there was something wrong, it wouldn't have to do with me, right?" No response. Her back was to him, facing the wall, feet on the ground. _Tread lightly, Booth. _"Bones, be straight with me here, alright? Hey, look at me. What's wrong?"

She whiped around to face him, eyes angry, mouth twisted into a growl. _Stiuation has escalated. _"What's wrong?" Her voice was hard but low. She was egsasperated. Angry, but not enough to forget about the sleeping kid two doors down. "I had to figure out from Sweets that you two got shot at. 'Just some paperwork, Brennan, no big deal.' _No big deal?" _

"Okay, clearly, you're upset. And for good reason-" He added quickly at her deepening grimace. "You're right, that was wrong of me. I should have told you the truth. It was...very wrong of me to lie to you." _Jeez, good going, Booth. Real nice. _

"Come on, Booth, I mean, really. How could you do that? Partners. That implies a bond of trust. Husband. That implies a bond of love, trust and mutual respect."

_Damn, Booth, you've done it now. What the hell were you thinking, you prick? _"I... I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I was just trying to save you the worry. You've been stressed lately, and we're both stretched thin, and you already worry when I'm in the field. I guess I was just trying to save you unnecesarry worry."

"Unnecesarry? God, Booth. That's ridiculous. If it were me in this situation you'd be all over my case right now for not telling you." _She's right. As usual. Damage control, Booth. _

Booth hung his head, rested it in his hands propped on his knees at the elbow. Brennan covered her face with her hands, pressed her palms into her eyes, then against her mouth. Her hands remained there, but her fingers were splayed slightly. Peeking sideways he could see her eyes becoming red.

"I'm sorry, Bones. I am so sorry. Please, please, forgive me. It won't happen again. Promise. From now on, I'll be completely straight forward with you," he said, hoping it wasn't too little too late. Again, she was statue still. "I'm so stupid." He whispered, more to himself than anyone. Seconds turned to a minute. Then two. _Damn. _That was the least of the offensive words running through his mind, over and over again.

"You're not stupid, Booth."

"I wish I believed you." He sighed, eyes closed, forehead still pressed into his palms.

"You're not, Booth. You're a smart man. A good man. You were just trying to do what you thought would be best for me. And, while erroneous," she sighed, "it was a gesture made out of love." _There's the side of Brennan that you get an exclusive look at. Loving, empathetic Bones._

"You're too good for me." He said, voice full of devotion. There was no way he could find a woman better than Bones. He didn't believe such a person even existed.

"You know I don' think that's true-quite the opposite, actually-so stop believing it yourself. And, I suppose I overreacted. Sweets contacted me afterward, so I knew you were okay. I was going to let it go, but I guess it bothered it me more than it should have."

"No, absoultely not. You're reaction is totally justified." He wasn't about to let her make his mistake her own. Her hands were on his shoulders. Then her legs were on either side of his and her chest was glued to his spine. Her cheek was at his, warm against his. Day old stubble scratched grainily against her, but she didn't seem to mind. If he swiveled his head 60 degrees to the right, his lips would meet hers. It was a no brainer.

Slowly he turned, pressing his forehead to hers. He'd give her a chance to pull away. She made no such move. That was all the encouragement he needed. Somewhat awkwardly he angled his lips toward hers. He pushed against her, and she pushed back. It became a game. You push, I push back harder. Their lips crashed and bruised. She was smiling, but it wasn't her big, toothy, Brennan smile. _Cool your jets, Booth. Do this right. _He pulled back a little, and she followed gently. He stayed just out of her reach.

"Booth..." Not a whine, exactly, but..."Don't tease." She was still glued to his back.

"Me? Tease? Never. Nah, I'm just tired, " _yeah, right, _"thought you would be too. Figured we should get to sleep." Her head leaned forward, her chest pressed harder against his back, trying to reach his lips with hers. She was trying to prove to him that she wasn't upset anymore, but the problem was that she was still upset, and she just didn't know it yet. Good thing he could read her so well. _Desperate times call for desperate measures. _

He pushed all his weight backward and she, not expecting the sudden force, was crushed to the matteress under him. She laughed shallowly. "Get up."

"I don't know. I kind of like this. Comfortable." He wiggled his shoulders to demonstrate, laying his head on the matress beside hers. It made his neck bend at a wierd angle, but he didn't care enough to move at the moment. Her hair was silky agaisnt his cheek.

She laughed again. "Booth. Up. I'm okay, really." He turned his head so it was resting against her temple, but stayed on top of her. "Okay, now I'm getting uncomfortable, Booth, seriously." Booth shot up, twisted and grabbed her hand so that she flew off the bed with him and landed clumsily in his arms when their feet hit the floor. She was laughing again. And flashing teeth. _Bingo. _He grabbed her face in both of his hands, thumbs pressed lightly to her cheek bones. This time, when their lips met it was tender, gentle. Each kiss told her of his love for her. They said how much he needed her, how much she meant to him. She got the message, loud and clear.

When their feet got tired of standing, she pulled away, rocked onto her toes and kissed him on the forehead. "As much as I'd love to continue kissing-and really, I would-I'm exhausted. And you are too."

"Hey, you don't know that. I'm wide awake."

"You're posture suggests otherwise." He shook his head laughingly. She left the warmth of his strong arms reluctantly and quickly slipped out of her dress and into a pair of loose gym shorts and one of his T-Shirts. She crawled into bed and he dragged the covers over her. Then he moved around and depostited himself under the covers on his of the bed. Her leg moved to rest against his. Then her arm. Next her torso. Finally her head rested against his bicep. His hand reached for hers, and, upon meeting, they laced their fingers toghether. Booth switched out the bedside lamp, plunging the room into darkness.

"You know, we have been stretched quite thin lately. It's kind of brought me under the wheather. I'm thinking of calling in sick tomorrow."

"You are so right. I've got this cough," He demonstrated with an overexagerated hack, "probably nothing, but better safe then sorry, right?"

"My thinking exactly." She agreed, pecking his shoulder and laughing. A kiss to the top of her head was the last thing either of them remembered before falling into a very deep, very comfortable sleep.


End file.
